Greece’s foreign ministry on Wednesday pointed to yet another attempt by official Turkey to “instrumentalize” the refugee and migration crisis at Europe’s borders, as well as a possible ploy to create a border issue at the two countries’ land frontier on the Evros River.

The statement comes in the wake of another alleged “push forward” by Turkish law enforcement of third country nationals towards Greek (and EU) territory, as 35 Syrian nationals and three Palestinians claimed they were stranded on a river isle in the middle of the Evros/Maritsa River for an undetermined number of days this month. Greek officials vehemently stressed that the coordinates given by the group and their supporters referred to Turkish territory.

One of the would-be asylum seekers, in fact, was in constant contact, via smartphone, with NGOs and the media, from the border area.
After entering Greek territory this week and upon their detection by border patrols, members of the group claimed they were encouraged to illegally enter Greece.

“Before this new attempt against our national interests, all political forces in our country need to show prudence instead of trying to turn this issue into an arena (of political contention), as some of the opposition parties are trying to do,” the ministry statement added.

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